i sincerely, honestly, truly dont understand and i am trying to...but you make it difficult. and that makes me feel frustrated.

Yes I have feelings. I stated in the OP that I naturally gravitate towards my own well-being. I am just like anyone, varying only in degree of biology
and place. Perhaps the only difference is I treat my feelings and emotions like feedback as opposed to “pushy explainers” (philosophical jargon);
I don’t see them as any sort of cause for my actions, but as an indication of my own biology, which does matter.

Yes the title is somewhat subversive, but feelings aren’t what they “feel” to be, which is ultimately the point I am trying to make. Upon
inspection, there is no love, joy, hope or sorrow in the body; it's only body. When I say they do not matter I am being quite literal, for there is
nothing material about them. Feelings are not things. Simple enough. Things matter; nothings do not. If one was to say feelings and body are the same
thing—which they are—I would concede that they matter, but only to the extent that the biology does.

However there is a paradoxical methodology utilized by people who chase feelings and push others away, namely, that they will forgo or risk health,
being, and biology in order to maintain or destroy these sensations, for instance self-medication, suicide, reckless behavior, putting not only
themselves at risk, but others as well. Also I find people tend to seek intellectual comfort over, say, a more realistic picture of reality. Those
who break the biology into the false-dichotomy of subjective and objective necessarily give primacy to the subjective, to themselves, and if the state
of the world is any indication, this is having adverse effects on the world around us. This is the rabbit hole I am currently descending.

Feelings are not things. Simple enough. Things matter; nothings do not. If one was to say feelings and body are the same thing—which they
are—I would concede that they matter, but only to the extent that the biology does.

so you are speaking of the noun, not the verb?

Those who break the biology into the false-dichotomy of subjective and objective necessarily give primacy to the subjective, to themselves,
and if the state of the world is any indication, this is having adverse effects on the world around us. This is the rabbit hole I am currently
descending.

well, i hope you find what you want. and then i hope you bury it with you.

Are you saying
You think about your feelings but do not let them rule you

Many people are ruled by emotions
Emotions can be easily triggered by others
Rendering one no more than a pre programmed robot who's buttons can be pressed
And that you rise above such base emotions and apply intelligence to situations rather than reacting to them ?

Depending on how it is used, yes. And I was talking about the word "matter" not the word "feeling" in regard to noun vs verb.

"To feel" is a verb, and I feel like we are getting sidetracked here. Why do we do anything if not for how the result affects us? That includes
emotional repercussions. Otherwise, might as well find a convenient freeway and take a nap between the lines.

Depending on how it is used, yes. And I was talking about the word "matter" not the word "feeling" in regard to noun vs verb.

"To feel" is a verb, and I feel like we are getting sidetracked here. Why do we do anything if not for how the result affects us? That includes
emotional repercussions. Otherwise, might as well find a convenient freeway and take a nap between the lines.

...to a certain degree, yes. Emotions have physical symptoms. But emotions are not limited to or defined by those symptoms.

They are those symptoms, but not defined by those symptoms. They are defined according to how they feel.

But maybe the better question is, what will you do when you realize that for all your critiques and qualms, the world and its inhabitants won't stop
feeling or acting on their feelings?

They already do not act on their feelings, they only feel like they do. I'm attempting to talk about what is, not what ought to be.

Well, yes. We tend to categorize things according to how they appeal to us or repulse us. This is how we decide what direction we want to go. We could
of course just not pay any attention to what we want...but then what is the basis for progress, for motion of any kind?

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